St. Petersburg:
St. Petersburg formerly Leningrad (1924-91), is one of the most beautiful cities of Europe. Founded by Peter I the Great in 1703, it was for two centuries the capital of the Russian Empire (1712-1918). It was also the scene of the February and October revolutions in 1917, and was a besieged and fiercely defended during World War II. In 1924 it was renamed for the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, but it reverted to its original name in 1991. The modern city is important as a cultural and industrial centre and as the nation's largest seaport.
St. Petersburg is located on the delta of the Neva River where it debouches into the Gulf of Finland, about 100 miles (160 km) from the Finnish border. The city once spread across nearly 100 islands of the Neva River delta and across adjacent parts of the mainland floodplain, but most of these islands have now been joined by a landfill. The low and originally marshy site has made the city subject to recurrent, often severe flooding. Canals and natural channels assist drainage and make St. Petersburg a city of waterways and bridges.
The climate is of the modified continental type, with marked maritime influences. February temperatures average 18 F (-8 C), and July's average 64 F (18 C); the mean annual precipitation is 23 inches (585 mm).
St. Petersburg is a major centre of Russian manufactures. The city's industries include engineering; production of armaments, nuclear reactors, electrical and power machinery, electrical and electronic goods; printing; shipbuilding; the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products; and the production of consumer goods.
Central St. Petersburg is divided by distributaries of the Neva River into four sections: the Admiralty Side, Vasilyevsky Island, the Petrograd Side, and the Vyborg Side. The Admiralty Side is particularly rich in museums, monuments, and historical buildings and squares. Nevsky Prospekt, the city's great thoroughfare, also radiates eastward from the this nucleus of Peter's original city. It is lined by palaces, churches, stores, cafes, and theatres.
St. Petersburg displays a remarkable richness of architecture that includes the cathedral of the Peter-Paul Fortress, the Summer Palace, the Winter Palace, the Smolny Convent, the Vorontsov and Strogonov palaces, the Kazan and St. Isaacs cathedrals, the Smolny Institute, the new Admiralty, and the Senate. City music, ballet, and theatre enjoy a long and continuing tradition.
The city is one of the most important Russian centers for education and scientific research. It contains the University of Saint Petersburg (1819), the Academy of Fine Arts (1757), the Institute of Mines (1773), and the Military Medical Academy (1798). The library of the Academy of Sciences is the world's most prominent research establishment.
The Admiralty Side
Much of St. Petersburg's historical and cultural heritage is concentrated on the Admiralty Side. The Admiralty, the nucleus of Peter's original city, was reconstructed in 1806-23 by Andreyan D. Zakharov. Its elegant spire, topped by a weather vane in the form of a ship, is one of the principal landmarks of the city. Today it houses a naval college.
Just to the east lies the great Palace Square. The 600-ton granite monolith of the Alexander Column (1830-34), the tallest of its kind in the world and so finely set that its base is not fixed, thrusts up for 165 feet (50 metres) near the centre of the square.
Between the square and the Neva River rises the huge and massive rectangle of the Winter Palace (1754-1762), the former principal residence of the tsars. The present structure, the fifth to be built, was the Baroque masterpiece of Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli. Both the exterior and the interior of the palace were designed in dazzlingly luxurious style. In 1837 the building was destroyed by fire, and only the adjoining Hermitage survived; the Winter Palace was recreated in 1839 almost exactly according to Rastrelli's plans. The striking appearance of the palace is highlighted by white columns against a green background, with golden stucco moldings; 176 sculptured figures line the roof. The whole complex, now called the Hermitage, or State Hermitage Museum. Originated in 1764, as the private collection of the tsarina Catherine II, it is a house of worldwide famous fine art.
Opposite the Winter Palace, is Carlo Rossi's General Staff building (1811-29). The two of its wings are joined by a huge triumphal arch, that is crowned by a chariot carrying a figure representing Glory.
On the western side of the Admiralty stretches Senate or Decembrists' (or Dekabrists') Square. The buildings of the former Senate and Synod (now housing archives) dominate the western side of the square, their decorated facades dating from the 1830s and representing the last great work of Rossi. The centre of the square is graced by equestrian statue of Peter the Great, known as the "Bronze Horseman" and created in 1782 by Étienne Falconet. To the south, near the Senate and Synod buildings, rises the classical front of the Horse Guards Riding School, or Manezh (1804-07); beyond it, dominating the south side is St. Isaac's Cathedral. An outstanding monument of late classical Russian architecture built by Auguste Montferrand (1818-58), St. Isaac's is one of the largest domed buildings in the world. Its golden cupola, gilded with about 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of pure gold, soars to 331 feet in height and is visible all over St. Petersburg.
Nevsky Prospekt
From the Admiralty and its surrounding squares radiate three great avenues, of which the most important and best known is the Nevsky Prospekt. One of the world's great thoroughfares, the Nevsky Prospekt cuts southeastward across the peninsula formed by the northward loop of the Neva to the vicinity of the Alexander Nevsky Abbey, crossing the smaller Moyka and Fontanka rivers. The Anichkov Bridge across the latter is graced by four sculptured horses. The street has a special beauty: the architecture is majestic, the buildings are graceful and finely proportioned, the construction is complex. On the Nevsky Prospekt stand the Stroganov, Shuvalov, and Anichkov palaces (former private residences of the nobility) and several churches, of which the most prominent are St. Peter's Lutheran Church (1833-38), St. Catherine's Roman Catholic Church (1763-83), and the Kazan Cathedral (1801-11). The latter edifice, undoubtedly the street's finest feature, was designed by Andrey Voronikhin in Russian classical style and has an interior rich in sculptures and paintings behind a magnificent semicircular frontal colonnade. Another interesting building is the department store Gostiny Dvor (1761-85), originally designed by Jean-Baptiste M. Vallin de la Mothe. This building forms an irregular square and opens onto four streets. There are many theatres, most notably the Pushkin Academic Drama Theatre,restaurants, and cafés.
Alexander Nevsky Square fronts the main entrance to the abbey of the same name and its surrounding gardens. Beyond the square's main entrance lie, monuments and sculptures of the 18th-century Lazarus Cemetery (where Mikhail V. Lomonosov and many of the city's architects are buried) and the 19th-century Tikhvin Cemetery (containing the graves of such writers and composers as Dostoyevsky, Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky). Abbey houses the Church of the Annunciation (1720, designed by Domenico Trezzini), which is now a museum, and Holy Trinity Cathedral (1778-90, designed by Ivan Starov).
Through the Admiralty Side and intersecting the radial avenues cut the natural channels and canals. The most important, are the Moyka and Fontanka rivers and the Griboyedov and Obvodny canals. Downstream from the northern entrance of the Fontanka into the Neva lies the Field of Mars, one of the city's beautiful open spaces. Begun under Peter the Great (when it was known as the Field of Amusement), it was intended for popular festivities and fireworks. It was a favourite haunt of the 18th-century nobility, but its present name derives from a monument erected in 1801 and portraying the great Russian military leader Aleksandr V. Suvorov (buried in the Church of the Annunciation) as the god of war. In the 19th century the space was used for military parades and exercises. The heroes of the February Revolution of 1917 and civil war (1918-20) were buried there. They are commemorated by the memorial and eternal flame.
Summer Garden
Founded in 1704, it has parks and gardens that contain more than 250 statues and busts, mostly the work of Venetian masters. The Summer Palace, erected 1710-14 for Peter the Great, stands in the garden's northeastern portion. Its Neva River embankment is fronted by a fence (1784), the iron grille of which is listed as UNESCO heritage landmark.
The Smolny Complex
The Smolny Complex includes the former convent, the five-domed cathedral, designed by Rastrelli in 1748, and the classical building of the Smolny Institute, constructed by Giacomo Quarenghi in 1806-08. The institute was used as Lenin's headquarters in 1917.
Vasilyevsky Island Because of its defendable position, Vasilyevsky Island was one of the first areas of St. Petersburg to be developed. Opposite the Admiralty and Winter Palace, at the island's eastern tip, is the remarkable architectural complex known as the Strelka or "Pointer". Behind the two great Rostral Columns, decorated by carved ships' prows, and across Pushkin Square, the point rises majestically to the former Exchange building (Thomas de Thomon, 1805-10), the city's finest example of early 19th-century style and reminiscent of a classical Greek temple in appearance; it now houses the Central Naval Museum.
The Petrograd Side The Petrograd Side is the home to the great Peter-Paul Fortress. Founded in 1703, this magnificent fortress, initially had earthen barriers, but they were soon replaced by 40 feet high and 12 feet thick stone walls, with 300 cannons mounted on the bastions. Above the squat horizontal lines of the fortress's massive walls soars city's golden landmark, the slender, arrow-like spire of St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral. The cathedral was built in 1712-33 by Trezzini, and the tsars and tsarinas of Russia from the time of Peter the Great (except for Peter II and Nicholas II) are buried in it. Trezzini also designed St. Peter's (Petrovsky) Gate (1718) as the eastern entrance to the fortress. From the early 19th century the fortress was used as a prison, chiefly for political prisoners. Today it is a museum, and at noon each day a cannon is fired from its battlements.
Just to the east of the Peter-Paul Fortress, the battleship Aurora is permanently moored as a museum and training vessel for the Naval College. It was this ship that in 1917 fired the blank shot that was a signal to storm the Winter Palace.
The Vyborg Side
The northeastern part of the central city had by the late 19th century developed into an industrial suburb. One of its most famous features is the Finland Railway Station. Here in April 1917 Lenin made his initial pronouncement of a new political course that would bring the Bolsheviks to power. A major street of the Vyborg Side is the Prospekt Karla Marksa, along which stand such buildings as the Cathedral of St. Sampson.
St. Petersburg now extends well to the north and south of the original delta site. The newer outer suburbs include extensive open areas, and parts of the periphery are designated as its greenbelt. Among the suburbs noteworthy for their historic and cultural value are Petrodvorets, Pushkin, Pavlovsk, and Gatchina.
Petrodvorets The most famous of the communities around St. Petersburg is Petrodvorets (Peterhof before 1944). Its unique garden-park setting, stretching in terraces rising above the Gulf of Finland, consists of works from two centuries of Russian architectural and park styles. Among its famous landmarks are the Great Palace, the former residence of Peter the Great. Built in the Baroque style (1714-28), it was reconstructed and expanded by Rastrelli from the mid-1740s to the mid-1750s. On the north the building commands a view of the Grand Cascade, a grandiose structure including a grotto, 64 fountains, and two cascading staircases, which lead to an enormous semicircular basin that contains a giant statue of Samson wrestling with a lion. This statue, symbolizing the military glory of Russia, is a copy of the original statue by Mikhail I. Kozlovsky. The original was stolen by the Nazis during World War II. In fact, much of the town's treasure was plundered, and this magnificent vista becomes all the more remarkable when it is remembered that much of it is a post-World War II restoration.
Pushkin The town of Pushkin (called Tsarskoye Selo before 1917, Detskoye Selo in 1918-37) arose in the early 18th century as one of the tsarist residences. The Catherine Palace (1717-23; enlarged by Aleksey V. Kvasov and Savva I. Chevakinsky, 1743-48; rebuilt by Rastrelli, 1752-57) is notable for its dimensions, the beauty and majesty of its form, and the wealth of its sculptural decoration. The golden suite of splendid halls (including the Amber Room) exemplifies Russian Baroque at its peak. The community also is the site of the Chinese Village (1782-96) in Alexander Park, and the gallery (1780-90) named after its architect, Charles Cameron. Its terraces contain more than 50 busts of figures from ancient Greek and Roman history. The Lycée, a school for the offspring of the nobility, had the great Aleksandr Pushkin as a student, and a famous statue of the poet stands near the town's Egyptian Gates. The town suffered severe damage during the Nazis occupation but has been completely restored.
Pavlovsk Pavlovsk, a southern suburb, is the site of a late 18th- and early 19th-century palace and park in the classical style that was created as a country residence for Tsar Paul I. The central Great Palace (1782-86; Cameron) is crowned by a dome that is supported by 64 columns. It was severely damaged by the Nazis and has been restored.
Gatchina Another southern suburb, Gatchina, is noted for the palace built in 1766-81 by Antonio Rinaldi for Count Grigory Orlov, a favourite of Catherine II. Gatchina Park was created at the same time. Its monuments, sculptures, and gardens are preserved by the state.
St. Petersburg is located on the delta of the Neva River where it debouches into the Gulf of Finland, about 100 miles (160 km) from the Finnish border. The city once spread across nearly 100 islands of the Neva River delta and across adjacent parts of the mainland floodplain, but most of these islands have now been joined by a landfill. The low and originally marshy site has made the city subject to recurrent, often severe flooding. Canals and natural channels assist drainage and make St. Petersburg a city of waterways and bridges. The climate is of the modified continental type, with marked maritime influences. February temperatures average 18 F (-8 C), and July's average 64 F (18 C); the mean annual precipitation is 23 inches (585 mm).
St. Petersburg is a major centre of Russian manufactures. The city's industries include engineering; production of armaments, nuclear reactors, electrical and power machinery, electrical and electronic goods; printing; shipbuilding; the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products; and the production of consumer goods. Central St. Petersburg is divided by distributaries of the Neva River into four sections: the Admiralty Side, Vasilyevsky Island, the Petrograd Side, and the Vyborg Side. The Admiralty Side is particularly rich in museums, monuments, and historical buildings and squares. Nevsky Prospekt, the city's great thoroughfare, also radiates eastward from the this nucleus of Peter's original city. It is lined by palaces, churches, stores, cafes, and theatres. St. Petersburg displays a remarkable richness of architecture that includes the cathedral of the Peter-Paul Fortress, the Summer Palace, the Winter Palace, the Smolny Convent, the Vorontsov and Strogonov palaces, the Kazan and St. Isaacs cathedrals, the Smolny Institute, the new Admiralty, and the Senate. City music, ballet, and theatre enjoy a long and continuing tradition.
The city is one of the most important Russian centers for education and scientific research. It contains the University of Saint Petersburg (1819), the Academy of Fine Arts (1757), the Institute of Mines (1773), and the Military Medical Academy (1798). The library of the Academy of Sciences is the world's most prominent research establishment.
The Admiralty Side
Much of St. Petersburg's historical and cultural heritage is concentrated on the Admiralty Side. The Admiralty, the nucleus of Peter's original city, was reconstructed in 1806-23 by Andreyan D. Zakharov. Its elegant spire, topped by a weather vane in the form of a ship, is one of the principal landmarks of the city. Today it houses a naval college.
Just to the east lies the great Palace Square. The 600-ton granite monolith of the Alexander Column (1830-34), the tallest of its kind in the world and so finely set that its base is not fixed, thrusts up for 165 feet (50 metres) near the centre of the square.
Between the square and the Neva River rises the huge and massive rectangle of the Winter Palace (1754-1762), the former principal residence of the tsars. The present structure, the fifth to be built, was the Baroque masterpiece of Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli. Both the exterior and the interior of the palace were designed in dazzlingly luxurious style. In 1837 the building was destroyed by fire, and only the adjoining Hermitage survived; the Winter Palace was recreated in 1839 almost exactly according to Rastrelli's plans. The striking appearance of the palace is highlighted by white columns against a green background, with golden stucco moldings; 176 sculptured figures line the roof. The whole complex, now called the Hermitage, or State Hermitage Museum. Originated in 1764, as the private collection of the tsarina Catherine II, it is a house of worldwide famous fine art. Opposite the Winter Palace, is Carlo Rossi's General Staff building (1811-29). The two of its wings are joined by a huge triumphal arch, that is crowned by a chariot carrying a figure representing Glory.
On the western side of the Admiralty stretches Senate or Decembrists' (or Dekabrists') Square. The buildings of the former Senate and Synod (now housing archives) dominate the western side of the square, their decorated facades dating from the 1830s and representing the last great work of Rossi. The centre of the square is graced by equestrian statue of Peter the Great, known as the "Bronze Horseman" and created in 1782 by Étienne Falconet. To the south, near the Senate and Synod buildings, rises the classical front of the Horse Guards Riding School, or Manezh (1804-07); beyond it, dominating the south side is St. Isaac's Cathedral. An outstanding monument of late classical Russian architecture built by Auguste Montferrand (1818-58), St. Isaac's is one of the largest domed buildings in the world. Its golden cupola, gilded with about 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of pure gold, soars to 331 feet in height and is visible all over St. Petersburg. Nevsky Prospekt
From the Admiralty and its surrounding squares radiate three great avenues, of which the most important and best known is the Nevsky Prospekt. One of the world's great thoroughfares, the Nevsky Prospekt cuts southeastward across the peninsula formed by the northward loop of the Neva to the vicinity of the Alexander Nevsky Abbey, crossing the smaller Moyka and Fontanka rivers. The Anichkov Bridge across the latter is graced by four sculptured horses. The street has a special beauty: the architecture is majestic, the buildings are graceful and finely proportioned, the construction is complex. On the Nevsky Prospekt stand the Stroganov, Shuvalov, and Anichkov palaces (former private residences of the nobility) and several churches, of which the most prominent are St. Peter's Lutheran Church (1833-38), St. Catherine's Roman Catholic Church (1763-83), and the Kazan Cathedral (1801-11). The latter edifice, undoubtedly the street's finest feature, was designed by Andrey Voronikhin in Russian classical style and has an interior rich in sculptures and paintings behind a magnificent semicircular frontal colonnade. Another interesting building is the department store Gostiny Dvor (1761-85), originally designed by Jean-Baptiste M. Vallin de la Mothe. This building forms an irregular square and opens onto four streets. There are many theatres, most notably the Pushkin Academic Drama Theatre,restaurants, and cafés.
Alexander Nevsky Square fronts the main entrance to the abbey of the same name and its surrounding gardens. Beyond the square's main entrance lie, monuments and sculptures of the 18th-century Lazarus Cemetery (where Mikhail V. Lomonosov and many of the city's architects are buried) and the 19th-century Tikhvin Cemetery (containing the graves of such writers and composers as Dostoyevsky, Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky). Abbey houses the Church of the Annunciation (1720, designed by Domenico Trezzini), which is now a museum, and Holy Trinity Cathedral (1778-90, designed by Ivan Starov). Through the Admiralty Side and intersecting the radial avenues cut the natural channels and canals. The most important, are the Moyka and Fontanka rivers and the Griboyedov and Obvodny canals. Downstream from the northern entrance of the Fontanka into the Neva lies the Field of Mars, one of the city's beautiful open spaces. Begun under Peter the Great (when it was known as the Field of Amusement), it was intended for popular festivities and fireworks. It was a favourite haunt of the 18th-century nobility, but its present name derives from a monument erected in 1801 and portraying the great Russian military leader Aleksandr V. Suvorov (buried in the Church of the Annunciation) as the god of war. In the 19th century the space was used for military parades and exercises. The heroes of the February Revolution of 1917 and civil war (1918-20) were buried there. They are commemorated by the memorial and eternal flame.
Summer Garden
Founded in 1704, it has parks and gardens that contain more than 250 statues and busts, mostly the work of Venetian masters. The Summer Palace, erected 1710-14 for Peter the Great, stands in the garden's northeastern portion. Its Neva River embankment is fronted by a fence (1784), the iron grille of which is listed as UNESCO heritage landmark. The Smolny Complex
The Smolny Complex includes the former convent, the five-domed cathedral, designed by Rastrelli in 1748, and the classical building of the Smolny Institute, constructed by Giacomo Quarenghi in 1806-08. The institute was used as Lenin's headquarters in 1917.
Vasilyevsky Island Because of its defendable position, Vasilyevsky Island was one of the first areas of St. Petersburg to be developed. Opposite the Admiralty and Winter Palace, at the island's eastern tip, is the remarkable architectural complex known as the Strelka or "Pointer". Behind the two great Rostral Columns, decorated by carved ships' prows, and across Pushkin Square, the point rises majestically to the former Exchange building (Thomas de Thomon, 1805-10), the city's finest example of early 19th-century style and reminiscent of a classical Greek temple in appearance; it now houses the Central Naval Museum.
The Petrograd Side The Petrograd Side is the home to the great Peter-Paul Fortress. Founded in 1703, this magnificent fortress, initially had earthen barriers, but they were soon replaced by 40 feet high and 12 feet thick stone walls, with 300 cannons mounted on the bastions. Above the squat horizontal lines of the fortress's massive walls soars city's golden landmark, the slender, arrow-like spire of St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral. The cathedral was built in 1712-33 by Trezzini, and the tsars and tsarinas of Russia from the time of Peter the Great (except for Peter II and Nicholas II) are buried in it. Trezzini also designed St. Peter's (Petrovsky) Gate (1718) as the eastern entrance to the fortress. From the early 19th century the fortress was used as a prison, chiefly for political prisoners. Today it is a museum, and at noon each day a cannon is fired from its battlements.
Just to the east of the Peter-Paul Fortress, the battleship Aurora is permanently moored as a museum and training vessel for the Naval College. It was this ship that in 1917 fired the blank shot that was a signal to storm the Winter Palace. The Vyborg Side
The northeastern part of the central city had by the late 19th century developed into an industrial suburb. One of its most famous features is the Finland Railway Station. Here in April 1917 Lenin made his initial pronouncement of a new political course that would bring the Bolsheviks to power. A major street of the Vyborg Side is the Prospekt Karla Marksa, along which stand such buildings as the Cathedral of St. Sampson.
St. Petersburg now extends well to the north and south of the original delta site. The newer outer suburbs include extensive open areas, and parts of the periphery are designated as its greenbelt. Among the suburbs noteworthy for their historic and cultural value are Petrodvorets, Pushkin, Pavlovsk, and Gatchina.
Petrodvorets The most famous of the communities around St. Petersburg is Petrodvorets (Peterhof before 1944). Its unique garden-park setting, stretching in terraces rising above the Gulf of Finland, consists of works from two centuries of Russian architectural and park styles. Among its famous landmarks are the Great Palace, the former residence of Peter the Great. Built in the Baroque style (1714-28), it was reconstructed and expanded by Rastrelli from the mid-1740s to the mid-1750s. On the north the building commands a view of the Grand Cascade, a grandiose structure including a grotto, 64 fountains, and two cascading staircases, which lead to an enormous semicircular basin that contains a giant statue of Samson wrestling with a lion. This statue, symbolizing the military glory of Russia, is a copy of the original statue by Mikhail I. Kozlovsky. The original was stolen by the Nazis during World War II. In fact, much of the town's treasure was plundered, and this magnificent vista becomes all the more remarkable when it is remembered that much of it is a post-World War II restoration.
Pushkin The town of Pushkin (called Tsarskoye Selo before 1917, Detskoye Selo in 1918-37) arose in the early 18th century as one of the tsarist residences. The Catherine Palace (1717-23; enlarged by Aleksey V. Kvasov and Savva I. Chevakinsky, 1743-48; rebuilt by Rastrelli, 1752-57) is notable for its dimensions, the beauty and majesty of its form, and the wealth of its sculptural decoration. The golden suite of splendid halls (including the Amber Room) exemplifies Russian Baroque at its peak. The community also is the site of the Chinese Village (1782-96) in Alexander Park, and the gallery (1780-90) named after its architect, Charles Cameron. Its terraces contain more than 50 busts of figures from ancient Greek and Roman history. The Lycée, a school for the offspring of the nobility, had the great Aleksandr Pushkin as a student, and a famous statue of the poet stands near the town's Egyptian Gates. The town suffered severe damage during the Nazis occupation but has been completely restored.
Pavlovsk Pavlovsk, a southern suburb, is the site of a late 18th- and early 19th-century palace and park in the classical style that was created as a country residence for Tsar Paul I. The central Great Palace (1782-86; Cameron) is crowned by a dome that is supported by 64 columns. It was severely damaged by the Nazis and has been restored.
Gatchina Another southern suburb, Gatchina, is noted for the palace built in 1766-81 by Antonio Rinaldi for Count Grigory Orlov, a favourite of Catherine II. Gatchina Park was created at the same time. Its monuments, sculptures, and gardens are preserved by the state.